This love story has nothing to do with the 1970 film starring Ali MacGraw. Instead we fast forward to the present where we find several people cramped together during the Christmas holidays in a homeless shelter. With Zeldin’s play (In Paris, November 5-10, 2018) love is the common denominator and a last ditch form of resistance.
The play, a coproduction by the National Theatre of Great Britain and Birmingham Repertory Theatre in association with Odéon-Théâtre is part of the Festival d’Automne à Paris. It was first performed on December 13th, 2016 at the Dorfman Theatre (London). Since then the play has been applauded by the English press.
In an interview with “The Independent” Zeldin said “For the seventh year running, homelessness is on the rise in the UK. I wanted to show that homelessness, mental health, austerity… they’re all linked” And Michael Billington of the Guardian wrote;: “Zeldin’s particular achievement is to show people’s capacity for endurance. Tempers may flare and tensions rise, but his play is both about the dignity and the love that survive even in the harshest circumstances.”
“Love” depicts the downward spiral of economic precariousness, and all the instability that goes with it. It shows, what is at stake in these different trajectories, the deficiencies in the social safety net and the negative effects of austerity politics. The minimalist dialogues, daily rituals for survival and cavernous silences, make “Love” a powerful piece of drama, from which none of the characters emerges unscathed.
“Love” November 5-10, 2018, Odeon-Theatre de l”Europe-Atelier Berthier. Performed in English with French subtitles.